It sounded odd to hear Astros manager Larry Dierker favorably comparing Carl Everett to superstars Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell before last night’s 3-2 loss to the Mets. But after watching Everett tie the game in the seventh inning with his 20th homer of the season, who’s to argue?

Those sort of clutch heroics have been the norm for Everett this year. Cast off by the Yankees, Marlins and Mets, the outfielder has found a home in Houston. And what’s more, he’s gone from DNP to MVP, maturing into the Astros’ best clutch hitter this season and one of the best in the entire National League.

“I’m talked to about Biggio and Bagwell, and Carl belongs in that group,” Dierker said. “He’s was out close to a month and he still has 90-something RBI, so he’s having an incredible season.”

After going 2-for-4 last night with that first-pitch shot into the last row of the bleachers off an Al Leiter slider, that season includes a .332 average with 92 RBIs and 24 steals. Obviously Everett is a very different player than the one the Mets shipped to Houston for John Hudek following the 1997 season.

“Playing; that’s the only thing. I get to play. I’m not sitting and watching; I go in,” Everett shrugged when asked about his breakthrough. And Dierker backed him up.

“I did think he was capable of having this kind of year. I think the Mets thought that when they got him, and the Marlins thought that when they got him,” Dierker said of Everett, the Yanks’ top pick in ’90. “Everybody could see the strength and the speed and the coordination there. It was a matter of putting it all together in his mind, to be able to use those things to compete; and it looks like he finally got there.”

Clearly there is more to this metamorphosis than just playing time; Bobby Valentine played Everett in 142 games in ’97, and he hit just .248. He played in nine fewer games in Houston last year, but hit .296 with 76 RBIs. And this year, his importance to the Astros can hardly be quantified by numbers.

With outfielders Moises Alou, Alex Diaz, Richard Hidalgo and Derek Bell all on the DL, Everett has been the rock in a storm of injuries and the team’s best clutch hitter. Entering last night his .369 average in close-game, late-inning situations was the fifth-best in the league; his sterling .386 mark with men in scoring position was third-best.

“The most important part of the game is when guys are in scoring position,” Everett said. “I bear down a lot more to get those runners in, because that’s how you win the ballgames. That’s what makes or breaks the player.”

Everett credited the loud crowd at Shea with giving the home team a boost last night.

“They’ve never had a winner, so the atmosphere is coming from them,” he said. “I think [the Mets are] the type of team that needs it. Their crowd helped them out tonight. They’ve never drawn but now they’re winning so now they come out.”